CSRxP: Big Pharma Flaunts Disregard for Rx Affordability With Third Major Round of Pandemic Price Hikes

Pharmaceutical Companies Increase Prices on 32 Brand Name Drugs to Start July

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released a statement Thursday in response to a fresh round of price hikes from Big Pharma as the nation tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Big Pharma increased prices on 32 brand name prescription drugs on the first day of July 2021, a number that is expected to grow throughout the month.

This latest batch of Big Pharma price hikes represent the third major round of increases during the pandemic. Brand name drug companies increased prices on more than 830 drugs this January, with an average price increase of 4.5 percent. Last summer, despite calls to suspend traditional mid-year price hikes at the height of the pandemic, Big Pharma hiked prescription drug prices on more than 65 brand name drugs — more than the previous year.

“Big Pharma is flaunting the industry’s disregard for the millions of Americans who cannot afford their medications with this third major round of pandemic price hikes,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “The industry’s resistance to solutions that would lower drug prices and business-as-usual approach to price hikes during the pandemic underscore the urgency for policymakers to hold Big Pharma accountable.”

“Members of Congress must act on repeated promises to deliver relief from Big Pharma’s egregious tactics,” Aronson continued. “The time is now for lawmakers to pass solutions that have won support on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers to lower drug prices and crack down on Big Pharma’s anti-competitive and price-hiking practices.”

Of the 32 new Big Pharma price increases, 13, or 40 percent, had an increase greater than four percent.

Learn more about how Big Pharma had a “turbocharged” year in 2020 while millions of Americans struggled during the pandemic HERE.

Read more on why Big Pharma’s tired argument that price increases are justified by innovation doesn’t hold up to scrutiny HERE.

Read more on market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable and lower prescription drug prices HERE.

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